PSI demonstrates that the promotional products market continues to grow

This year’s PSI took place from January 9 to 11 at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre, where 17,342 visitors took to the exhibition floor to learn more about the promotional products industry.

Around 58% of the visitors travelled from outside Germany, with one in seven of them from overseas.

In total, organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland counted 925 exhibitors from 37 countries (prior year: 988) and 17,342 visitors (prior year: 18,094).

At this year’s exhibition there was an unmistakable trend towards sustainability and high-quality products. The latest PSI Industry Barometer underscores this statement. It found that more than 90% of the surveyed promotional products suppliers and distributors now have certified or verifiably sustainable products in their assortments. For more than half of the suppliers and distributors, the share of sustainable products even exceeds 30% of their complete range.

The PSI Industry Barometer also revealed that industry sales in Germany have topped €3.5 billion for the first time. It’s a trend GWW president, the umbrella association of the German promotional products industry, Frank Dangmann expects to continue.

He said: “Today, virtually every large company and 75% of all medium-sized companies in Germany deploy promotional products in their customer communication.”

One out of every five surveyed companies plan on investing more money in promotional products in future, he adds. The industry – especially in Germany and Europe – is expecting an extra boost from the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

A growth of 5.3% is forecast for the European market in 2018, according to the current PSI Industry Barometer, the survey of nearly 1,000 promotional products distributors across Europe conducted by the PSI Institute ahead of the trade show.

Next year’s PSI will take place in Düsseldorf from January 8 to 10.